tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/pell-grants-14365/articlesPell grants – The Conversation2019-03-18T10:46:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1125832019-03-18T10:46:32Z2019-03-18T10:46:32ZTeaching in America's prisons has taught me to believe in second chances<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264126/original/file-20190315-28499-rdsm56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prison education programs have been shown to lead to better employment rates for those who have served time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/College-Behind-Bars/864c485b07a844fd83372d4afabe9396/75/0">Elaine Thompson/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2007, I gave someone a second chance. I was in Danbury Federal Correctional Institution recruiting women for a new program for people returning from prison that I was running in New York City.</p>
<p>A woman approached me and handed me her portfolio. It was basically a detailed resume of her accomplishments, skills and goals for the future. </p>
<p>Over a two-year period before this, I had visited at least six female facilities in New York and Connecticut and met hundreds of women looking to enter our program. But when Jamila approached me, something stood out. </p>
<p>She was bold, persistent and confident about her future. Her portfolio showed that she took advantage of every educational program available to her while in prison. When she was released in 2007, I hired her as an administrative assistant intern. Over the next several years she worked her way up to a top management position at the same organization that ran the program.</p>
<p>A decade later I met another person, Chris Wilson, who created a master plan of what he hoped to accomplish in life. He, too, had embraced books, self-education and formal education while incarcerated. Even though he was serving a life sentence, he believed he could get out of prison and persisted until his judge gave him a second chance by reducing his sentence.</p>
<p>Like Jamila, part of Chris’ success stemmed from the opportunity to get a GED, an associate degree and complete many other programs while in prison. But he also went a step further and engaged in many years of self-education – from learning languages to understanding the operations of the stock market. Chris realized that through education, he could achieve success. Once released, Chris developed his own businesses, created artwork and wrote a <a href="http://chriswilson.biz/">memoir</a>, titled “The Master Plan: My Journey from a Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose.”</p>
<p>In between meeting Jamila and Chris, I met hundreds of incarcerated people who clung to education as if it were a lifesaver. I know education can transform lives because I see it constantly in the incarcerated – and formerly incarcerated – people I’ve met. I see it every week when I enter prison to direct the University of Baltimore’s <a href="http://www.ubalt.edu/cpa/about-the-college/community-engagement/second-chance-college-program.cfm">Second Chance College Program</a>.</p>
<h2>Education changes self-image</h2>
<p>I’ve been running the program since 2016, when the University of Baltimore became one of 67 colleges to participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/24/us-expands-pell-grant-program-12000-prison">Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>In the last three years, the program has served 63 students, with 43 currently enrolled and taking courses towards a bachelor’s degree in human service administration.</p>
<p>As one who studies <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&amp;lr=lang_en&amp;id=HXJ9DwAAQBAJ&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PR5&amp;dq=Andrea+Cantora&amp;ots=rHCXN6gKkM&amp;sig=OKJlNcZn2eo8rt5_wE_u6PyMtM8#v=onepage&amp;q=Andrea%20Cantora&amp;f=false">correctional education</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1478601X.2014.947032">prisoner reentry</a>, I have seen how formal education changes how men and women in prison <a href="https://prisoneducation.com/resources/prison-research-papers/how-prison-education-impacts-inmate-outlook/">view themselves</a> and their future. It gives incarcerated students a sense of confidence, builds self-esteem and increases maturity.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264128/original/file-20190315-28502-pzbjzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264128/original/file-20190315-28502-pzbjzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=405&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264128/original/file-20190315-28502-pzbjzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=405&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264128/original/file-20190315-28502-pzbjzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=405&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264128/original/file-20190315-28502-pzbjzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=509&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264128/original/file-20190315-28502-pzbjzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=509&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264128/original/file-20190315-28502-pzbjzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=509&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Women serving time in the Tennessee Prison for Women put on gowns for a 2013 graduation ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee. The women had earned an associate’s degree through a Lipscomb University prison education program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Inmates-Graduation/66c9e4cea37e46d09c66daf717135202/34/0">Mark Zaleski/AP</a></span>
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<p>I’ve observed that being a college student provides a sense of hope and accomplishment that is often absent inside prisons. It also creates a <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/04/05/finding-college-by-way-of-prison">sense of community</a> among those who are participating. Other incarcerated people see all of this – and they want the same thing.</p>
<p>The prospect of becoming a college student in prison seems to have a positive influence inside the institution. Every week men approach me, asking “How can I apply?” Cynics might suspect they do this just to get some time outside of their cells. If so, it is time well spent. If they are persistent enough, they end up excelling and become honors students. From what I’ve seen, they all work incredibly hard to complete tough courses like college algebra, psychology and biology.</p>
<p>Education is not only empowering for the individual, but it is also contagious. I have witnessed how education can indirectly influence the college trajectory of sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and even parents of incarcerated students. My incarcerated college students often tell stories about the conversations they have in the visiting room with their family about the books they are reading and the lessons they are learning in the classroom. Their education journey has inspired family members to start, or continue, their own journeys of education. </p>
<p>Prison education programs achieve all the <a href="https://www.vera.org/publications/investing-in-futures-education-in-prison">positive benefits</a> that politicians and the public desire – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4288462/">increased employment and higher earnings</a>, as well as other financial benefits.</p>
<p>Educating people in prison also makes our communities safer – statistics show people who participate in post-secondary education in prison are <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR266.html">43 percent less likely</a> to return to prison and more likely to find work.</p>
<h2>Political action needed</h2>
<p>With decades of research and anecdotal evidence, prison education and vocational approaches are being embraced by people from all political spectrums. For instance, in the foreword to “Education for Liberation: The Politics of Promise and Reform Inside and Beyond America’s Prisons,” Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, and Van Jones, a news commentator and former Obama administration official,
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HXJ9DwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PR8&amp;lpg=PR8&amp;dq=%E2%80%9CEmpowering+people+in+prison+through+greater+access+to+quality+educational+opportunities+is+a+worthy+effort+to+increase+public+safety,+strengthen+our+democratic+institutions,+and+grow+our+economy.%E2%80%9D&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=rHCXL2bHlJ&amp;sig=ACfU3U08-TGHnxxx5u6gITp74_kKnIKy4g&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiji9Xa5f_gAhWk1VkKHefMBRkQ6AEwAHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=%E2%80%9CEmpowering%20people%20in%20prison%20through%20greater%20access%20to%20quality%20educational%20opportunities%20is%20a%20worthy%20effort%20to%20increase%20public%20safety%2C%20strengthen%20our%20democratic%20institutions%2C%20and%20grow%20our%20economy.%E2%80%9D&amp;f=false">wrote:</a> “Empowering people in prison through greater access to quality educational opportunities is a worthy effort to increase public safety, strengthen our democratic institutions, and grow our economy.”</p>
<p>Increasing the access to prison education and vocational programming will likely result in more benefits for incarcerated people, their families and society. The newly passed <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/12/18/18140973/state-of-the-union-trump-first-step-act-criminal-justice-reform">First Step Act</a> will perhaps do this in the federal system, as the bill is expected to <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/424076-first-step-acts-passage-represents-a-starting-point-to-address">increase funds</a> for vocational and rehabilitative programming.</p>
<p>But it would also help to lift the <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Ending-Ban-on-Pell-Grants-for/245481">federal ban on Pell Grants for incarcerated people</a>. Lifting this ban would allow states to increase their education and vocational programming options. Together these legislative changes will make communities safer and give more people in prison – the Jamilas and Chris Wilsons of the world – a second chance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Cantora does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Through stories of redemption, a professor who oversees a Maryland prison education program says the time has come to restore federal financial aid for America's incarcerated.Andrea Cantora, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, University of BaltimoreLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/982842018-08-29T10:47:20Z2018-08-29T10:47:20ZMaking college more affordable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227517/original/file-20180712-27021-sf3pco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Has the cost of higher education in the U.S. put college out of financial reach?
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/investment-education-concept-conception-fee-expenses-659689999?src=2xQeZglNENWOjh3EuWS-Ww-6-0">DRogatnev/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: When it comes to the cost of higher education in the U.S., signs of trouble abound.</em></p>
<p><em>For instance, states now <a href="http://www.sheeo.org/news/sheeo-releases-state-higher-education-finance-fy-2017">rely more heavily on tuition</a> to finance their public colleges and universities than on government funding.</em> </p>
<p><em>Private colleges and universities are also struggling to make ends meet, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/04/30/nacubo-report-finds-tuition-discounting-again">steering a record amount of tuition revenue</a> toward grant aid for economically needy students.</em> </p>
<p><em>Meanwhile, the number of student borrowers who defaulted on their student loans <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-releases-national-student-loan-fy-2014-cohort-default-rate">edged up</a> last year as did the <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/2017-trends-in-college-pricing_1.pdf">price of higher education itself</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>So we asked our panel of presidents – from Xavier University of Louisiana, Colorado College and Penn State: Given this reality, what are the top two or three things that you believe need to happen to make college more affordable – particularly for low-income students, students of color and the working class?</em></p>
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<h2>More than one funder has to step up</h2>
<p><strong>Jill Tiefenthaler, President of Colorado College</strong></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233953/original/file-20180828-86141-1ugxh71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233953/original/file-20180828-86141-1ugxh71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=744&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233953/original/file-20180828-86141-1ugxh71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=744&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233953/original/file-20180828-86141-1ugxh71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=744&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233953/original/file-20180828-86141-1ugxh71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=935&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233953/original/file-20180828-86141-1ugxh71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=935&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233953/original/file-20180828-86141-1ugxh71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=935&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jill Tiefenthaler, president of Colorado College.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.coloradocollege.edu/us/giving/campaign/phonecast.html">Colorado College</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>A college education has many funders. Federal and state governments provide support, as do the institutions of higher education themselves. And then, of course, there is the money paid by the students’ families. Improving access will require additional support from one or more of these sources.</p>
<p>To start at the local level, an increase in state funding would make college more affordable. After all <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_303.70.asp">over 70 percent of all undergraduates</a> attend public institutions, and historically, states have been the primary source of funding for both two- and four-year public institutions.</p>
<p>However, states have <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/higher-ed-lower-spending-as-states-cut-back-where-has-money-gone/">reduced their support in recent years</a> and, as a result, the burden has fallen on students and their families. The <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-how-many-new-yorkers-are-benefiting-from-the-states-free-college-plan-2017-10-03">“free college”</a> plans in New York and a <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/01/05/why-free-college-tuition-is-spreading-from-cities-to-states">few other states</a> are examples of commitments to improve access. However, given the pressure on budgets resulting from underfunded pensions, Medicaid and K-12, I am not optimistic that students can count on increased support from states. In addition, <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-the-new-tax-law-affects-homeowners-it-could-be-more-than-you-think-2018-02-05">recent tax changes</a> that limit federal deductions for state taxes will increase pressure to keep state income and property tax rates down, further hindering state funding.</p>
<p>Additional support from the federal government, by increasing the <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell">Pell Grant</a> program, could make a big difference. The maximum Pell Grant for the 2018-19 academic year is $6,095. This is sufficient to cover the annual tuition at most community colleges. For example, the average tuition at <a href="https://www.ppcc.edu">the community college in my city</a> is $4,651. However, only students with family incomes of less than $60,000 qualify and the amount of the grant declines significantly as family income increases. Increasing the income cut-off and providing the full $6,095 to all who qualify would make college much more accessible for low- and middle-income students.</p>
<p>Private nonprofit colleges and universities educate <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_303.70.asp">about 20 percent of all undergraduates</a>. The “sticker price” at these institutions gives the impression that they are not accessible to low- and middle-income students. However, privates provide significant institutional aid. </p>
<p>The major source of this support is philanthropy, made up of earnings on endowments and annual gifts. Private institutions with smaller endowments also provide aid from tuition revenue by using the revenue from some students to provide financial aid to other students. However, increasing institutional aid by using tuition revenue is not sustainable. Therefore, the key to making private institutions more affordable is increasing endowments through philanthropy. Although it is true that the new <a href="https://econofact.org/the-university-endowment-tax-who-will-pay-it-and-why-was-it-implemented">“endowment tax”</a> on large endowments and any changes to the tax deduction for charitable giving reduce the funds available for financial aid. In addition, private institutions could reduce “merit aid” – aid that is awarded on the basis of academic, athletic or artistic merit – and reallocate those funds to need-based financial aid. </p>
<p>Of course, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/05/26/forget-the-marketing-gimmicks-its-time-for-colleges-to-cut-costs/">some may argue</a> that rather than finding new sources of revenue, colleges could simply cut their costs and reduce tuition. This would make college more affordable but it would also reduce the quality of the education provided. </p>
<p>Higher education is a very competitive market, and students and their families demand quality – as they should. We must do our best to educate students in a global environment, keeping pace with technological innovations, teaching critical thinking, fostering comfort with ambiguity, and graduating nimble leaders who will thrive in a rapidly changing era.</p>
<hr>
<h2>What needs discussing is the total cost of a degree</h2>
<p><strong>Eric Barron, President of Pennsylvania State University</strong></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233958/original/file-20180828-86138-9iqxkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233958/original/file-20180828-86138-9iqxkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=801&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233958/original/file-20180828-86138-9iqxkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=801&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233958/original/file-20180828-86138-9iqxkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=801&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233958/original/file-20180828-86138-9iqxkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1006&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233958/original/file-20180828-86138-9iqxkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1006&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233958/original/file-20180828-86138-9iqxkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1006&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Eric Barron, president of The Pennsylvania State University.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://president.psu.edu/biography.html">The Pennsylvania State University</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The high level of tuition in U.S. universities can be blamed on many factors. On top of <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/higher-ed-lower-spending-as-states-cut-back-where-has-money-gone/">shrinking state appropriations</a> there are more technology-intensive degrees in every field; an <a href="https://news.psu.edu/story/475363/2017/07/21/administration/trustees-hear-update-proposed-university-capital-plan">aging campus infrastructure;</a> a sharp increase in compliance and <a href="https://regulatorystudies.columbian.gwu.edu/reg-stats">regulations</a> reporting; and soaring health care costs.</p>
<p>University administrators should be deeply concerned that our price is limiting access to an education that enables upward mobility. Interestingly, the conversation on access and affordability seems to be fixated on controlling, first and foremost, the increase in tuition. We need to broaden the framing of this discussion considerably.</p>
<p>The first step is to change the conversation to one of the total cost of a degree. The simple fact is that timely completion of a degree is a critical mechanism to control total cost. A tuition increase pales in comparison to going to school for another year.</p>
<p>The second step is to recognize that the only thing worse than going five and six years in order to graduate, is to accumulate debt and drop out before graduation.</p>
<p>Universities like Penn State are justifiably proud of their <a href="https://budget.psu.edu/factbook/StudentDynamic/gradretratesummary.aspx?&amp;ratetype=grad&amp;repyear=2017&amp;YearCode=2015&amp;FBPlusIndc=N">high graduation rates</a>. However, when you dig deeper, you discover that first-generation, need-based students have <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-graduation-rates-lag-for-low-income-college-students-96182">a dramatically lower graduation rate</a> than most of their peers. At Penn State, they graduate 22 percentage points below the average. We can point to many factors that cause [this graduation gap], but it’s clearly not due to lack of ambition.</p>
<p>Sixty-two percent of these students work an average of 22 hours a week, usually at minimum wage jobs, so they can’t take a full credit load. It is impossible to graduate in four years. They drop classes more frequently than other students and tend to have lower grades because of their work load. Sadly, they also don’t have time to participate in advantageous activities, such as research or internships. They get discouraged. They either give up or end up attending a fifth or sixth year at a significant cost. If they graduate, they have paid more and gotten less from the experience than other students.</p>
<p>Our universities need a laser-like focus on mitigating all factors that slow the time to the completion of a degree. Every student should have access to financial literacy advisers and tools that help students take the most cost-efficient way to achieve a degree. We need “completion” programs to be a priority and not allow students to slip away because of finances or other hardships.</p>
<p>We can serve our mission of upward mobility and save students millions in costs and debt if we help every student, regardless of financial capability, to graduate, and graduate on time.</p>
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<h2>The importance of pre-collegiate preparation</h2>
<p><strong>Reynold Verret, President of Xavier University of Louisiana</strong> </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=633&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=633&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=633&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=795&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=795&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233948/original/file-20180828-86129-1yc9gx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=795&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.xula.edu/president/">Xavier University</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>By 2020, nearly <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED584413.pdf">two-thirds</a> of jobs will require postsecondary education. Yet, fewer than <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_603.20.asp">45 percent of adult Americans</a> currently have earned an associate degree or higher, as reported in national data.</p>
<p>The cost of higher education and its impact on access and opportunity is a major barrier to more students earning degrees. Talent and ability are not relegated to those of higher means. Our present challenge is to assure education and opportunity for students from all backgrounds. Sadly, we as a nation have been comfortable with very good schools for the haves and less than good ones for the have-nots. </p>
<p>On the federal level, <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell">Pell awards</a> should be increased and eligibility expanded for students with the greatest need. Pell awards should also be allowed to continue to apply during the summer terms so that students persist and graduate on time. </p>
<p>On average, an American student takes 5.1 years to earn the bachelor’s degree. <a href="https://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport11/">Time to degree completion</a> has increased over the past decades due to a number of factors, such as the need to work and inadequate pre-collegiate schooling. Each extra year increases the cost of the bachelor’s degree by 25 percent. The time it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree could be reduced if students didn’t have to take courses to acquire math and language skills that are normally mastered in high school.</p>
<p>Bold steps are needed. This includes building an equitable K-12 educational pipeline that provides better college readiness for all of America’s students. Quality K-12 requires great teachers who remain in the profession and teach in schools with the greatest need. The teaching profession must be elevated and the nation’s best students should be encouraged to become teachers. For their service, school loans should be forgiven or repaid. Colleges and universities should also create postsecondary certificates and credentials meeting the needs of students entering careers that do not require college degrees.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/">HBCU</a> where I serve as president, Xavier University of Louisiana, has been leading the nation in educating <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/a-prescription-for-more-black-doctors.html">African-Americans who go on to achieve medical degrees</a>. The school also excels in preparing students who achieve Ph.D.s in the STEM fields. A 2017 study has ranked the university <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/opinion/sunday/americas-great-working-class-colleges.html">6th in the nation</a> for social mobility, whereby students from the lower 40 percent of the U.S. income distribution enter the upper 40 percent. Our success and the <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Are-Black-Colleges-Doing-/243119">success of other HBCUs</a> should dispel any notion that talent is associated with socioeconomic status.</p>
<p>The education of our citizens is not only an individual but a collective benefit: America thrives if it develops all of its talent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Tiefenthaler is affiliated with the National Association of Colleges and Universities (NAICU), serving as treasurer and on its executive committee; and with the Annapolis Group, serving as chair of its board of directors. She has received funding from foundations in support of education and research. These include Blue Shield of California Foundation and National Consortium for Violence Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric J. Barron is currently a member of the University Corp. for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Board of Trustees, APLU Board of Directors, CICEP Chair, College Football Play-off (CFP) Board of Managers, Council on Competitiveness: EMCP Steering Committee, Universities Research Association (URA), Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors and American Talent Initiative (ATI). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reynold Verret and Xavier University of Louisiana receives and has received funding from federal agencies and foundations in support of education and research. These include the NIH, NSF, NASA, DOD and the Howard Hughes Medical institute</span></em></p>As students head back to campus, the ever higher cost of a college education is once again top of mind. The presidents of Colorado College, Penn State and Xavier University weigh in on what's to be done.Jill Tiefenthaler, President, Colorado CollegeEric J. Barron, President, Pennsylvania State UniversityReynold Verret,, President, Xavier University of Louisiana, Xavier University of LouisianaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/661742016-09-29T00:46:16Z2016-09-29T00:46:16ZMaking college affordable: Eight essential reads<p><em>Editor’s Note: The following is a round-up of archival stories on college affordability.</em></p>
<p>In the debate on Monday, Sept. 26, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton listed “making college debt free,” as part of her plan to build the economy. <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/09/26/495115346/fact-check-first-presidential-debate">She said,</a> </p>
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<p>“I think building the middle class, investing in the middle class, making college debt-free so more young people can get their education, helping people refinance their debt from college at a lower rate, those are the kinds of things that will really boost the economy, broad-based, inclusive growth.” </p>
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<p>In response, a few hours later, the Republican Party put up a <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-fact-check-trump-clinton-deny-own-words-014942868--election.html">fact-check from the Associated Press</a> <a href="https://www.gop.com/clintons-top-5-lies-of-the-night/">on its website:</a></p>
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<p>“Clinton has proposed making college tuition free for in-state students who go to a public college or university. But tuition free doesn’t equate to debt free. Under her plan, the government would pay for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities for students from families earning less than $125,000 a year. That would leave students still bearing the cost of room and board, which makes up more than half of the average $18,943 sticker price at a four-year public university, according to the College Board.”</p>
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<p>Scholars writing for The Conversation have been looking at the presidential candidates’ higher education proposals for the past many months. Here is how they explain and unpack many of the complexities of the issue.</p>
<h2>What the candidates are proposing</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/clintons-new-college-compact-plan-explained-62470">Key proposals</a> of Clinton’s US$450 billion plan include eliminating tuition for families with annual incomes under $125,000 and providing a three-month moratorium on federal student loan payments. </p>
<p>Donald Trump’s higher education proposals were outlined by his campaign cochair and policy director, Sam Clovis, during an interview to a higher education website. Trump <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-higher-ed-proposals-could-leave-poor-students-out-of-college-59926">plans to reform</a> the federal student loan program and provide incentives to universities to enroll more “successful” students. He proposes to have loans come from private lenders, rather than the federal government.</p>
<p>The larger questions that experts at The Conversation have raised are: Who is really affected by college debts? Will colleges raise tuition once the government starts paying? Will this further raise costs at public universities that have suffered budgetary cuts over the last many years? And who will continue to be left out?</p>
<h2>Who is at risk</h2>
<p>Higher education expert at Seton Hall University Robert Kelchen <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-student-loan-debt-really-a-crisis-44069">explains</a> that student debt has increased by several times in just a decade. As of March 2015, Americans owed nearly $1.2 trillion in student loan debt. But, the real crisis, he says, is among students with “relatively little debt but dismal job prospects.” </p>
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<p>“Students with low debt amounts and low earnings are disproportionately likely to be dropouts. Sixty-three percent of students who started college in 2003-04 and defaulted on their loans by 2009 were college dropouts, while students with a bachelor’s or associate degree were only 4 percent of defaults.”</p>
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<p>Economists David H. Feldman and Robert B. Archibald at the College of William &amp; Mary point to a deeper problem of higher education – that schools serving the underprivileged are becoming increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-debt-free-college-will-not-solve-the-real-problems-in-americas-higher-education-system-62157">resource-starved.</a> </p>
<p>An analysis conducted by these two scholars found that,</p>
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<p>In 1987, public universities spent 88 cents for every dollar that private nonprofit institutions spent on the wages and salaries that drive instruction. By 1999 the ratio had fallen to 81 cents. And by 2010, it had fallen further, to 73 cents on the dollar.</p>
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<p>In keeping with findings that low-income students are the ones most affected, they found that the fall in graduation rates is “concentrated” at institutions that are resource-starved. </p>
<p>Donald Heller, professor of higher education at University of San Francisco, <a href="https://theconversation.com/clintons-debt-free-college-comes-with-a-price-tag-46378">expressed similar concerns</a>. He explained that college has become “much less affordable” for those going to public universities or community colleges. </p>
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<p>“In the 10 years from 2004 to 2014, the sticker (non-discounted) price of tuition at the average public, four-year university rose 42 percent in real dollars, ie, after discounting for inflation. Community college prices grew 28 percent during this period.”</p>
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<h2>What’s lacking in the proposals</h2>
<p>In analyzing Trump’s higher ed plan, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-higher-ed-proposals-could-leave-poor-students-out-of-college-59926">Donald Heller says</a> there would be some “unintended consequences” of enrolling students who are more likely to succeed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“institutions would be more likely to shy away from enrolling students from disadvantaged families, and those whose academic preparation was weaker…. Such a move would exacerbate the large gaps in college enrollment and degree attainment that already exist in this country. It would lead to even higher rates of income inequality across income and racial groups.”</p>
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<p>As for Clinton’s plan, he says, it would involve a large expansion in federal dollars, which could come <a href="https://theconversation.com/clintons-debt-free-college-comes-with-a-price-tag-46378">“at a cost.”</a> An example of this is No Child Left Behind (NCLB), passed during the first term of President George W. Bush. NCLB expanded the role of federal government in K-12 education.</p>
<p>Even the loan repayment option is not likely to benefit many students, says <a href="https://theconversation.com/clintons-new-college-compact-plan-explained-62470">Kelchen</a>. There has been a growth of private refinancing for higher-income students. And for low-income students, there is already an option of income-driven plans. </p>
<h2>It’s not just about financial aid</h2>
<p>Experts point out financial aid is not the only support that many struggling students need to complete college. About 20 percent of students at four-year public and private colleges and universities are first-generation students who could face multiple challenges. </p>
<p>As Wheelock College’s Linda Banks-Santilli <a href="https://theconversation.com/feet-on-campus-heart-at-home-first-generation-college-students-struggle-with-divided-identities-42158">explains,</a></p>
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<p>They may feel they’re abandoning parents or siblings who depend on them. And families too may have conflicted feelings: first-generation college students’ desire for education and upward mobility may be viewed as a rejection of their past.</p>
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<p>Many other students too could face challenges that go beyond meeting their tuition needs. For example, University of Pittsburgh scholars Lindsay Page and Stacy S. Kehoe <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-a-tuition-free-policy-enough-to-ensure-college-success-57947">explain how students from low-income backgrounds</a> need more than just financial aid to succeed:</p>
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<p>“Many students, and particularly those from low-income backgrounds, face challenges that go beyond simply meeting tuition. Awarding such students with packages that include financial aid bundled with counseling and other support is likely to yield more success in improving overall degree attainment rates. In contrast, universal free tuition would invest fewer resources where they are needed and more where they are not.”</p>
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<p>Nonetheless, scholars agree that an issue of importance has found attention in the public sphere. <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-wealthier-students-get-subsidized-college-education-55675">As Heller says,</a></p>
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<p>Whoever goes on to capture the White House in November can best tackle the problem of rising college prices by focusing any additional spending on students who truly need more support from the federal government.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66174/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
What do low-income students really need to complete college? Here is a roundup of articles from our experts.Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/630342016-08-01T03:08:39Z2016-08-01T03:08:39ZWant college to be affordable? Start with Pell Grants<p>In her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/live-coverage-of-the-democratic-national-convention-day-4/493385/">talked about</a> free college and student debt relief. </p>
<p>Convention speeches are not normally known for providing details of policy proposals, and keeping with tradition, Clinton offered few details of her own. Now that we are past the conventions and into the campaign, presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are likely to speak in more detail about their specific policies.</p>
<p>What is missing in the debate about free college, however, is a discussion of the role of Pell Grants, the centerpiece of the federal government’s student aid programs. These grants, which used to cover almost the entire cost of a college education for poor students, today cover less than a third. The current Republican budget proposal would erode it even further, threatening the ability of students from poor and moderate-income families to attend and graduate from college. </p>
<p>From my perspective as a researcher who has studied questions of college access for two decades, any discussion of free college has to include the role of Pell Grants in college affordability.</p>
<h2>What are Pell Grants and why are they important?</h2>
<p>Pell Grants were <a href="http://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/pubs/pell_final_website_may_2015.pdf">created</a> in the 1972 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. This coming academic year they will provide grant aid of up to <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell#how-much-money">US$5,815</a> to students from low- and moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Last year, over <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-total-expenditures-maximum-and-average-grant-and-number-recipients-over-time">eight million</a> undergraduates across the nation received a total of about US$30 billion in Pell Grants. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=402&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=402&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=402&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=505&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=505&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=505&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In 2011-12, 41 percent of undergraduates received a Pell Grant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;language=en&amp;ref_site=photo&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;autocomplete_id=&amp;search_tracking_id=Sb4jucmFppq674Fuw-LyQA&amp;searchterm=student%20debt&amp;show_color_wheel=1&amp;orient=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;media_type=images&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;color=&amp;page=1&amp;inline=241241671">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Data from the U.S. Department of Education show that in the 2011-12 school year (the most recent data available), <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/tableslibrary/viewtable.aspx?tableid=10356">41 percent</a> of all undergraduate students received a Pell Grant, almost double the 22 percent of students who received them in 1999. </p>
<p>For most students, the funding they receive from the Pell program outstrips what they receive in aid from either their state or the institution they attend. </p>
<p>Using <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/powerstats/default.aspx">data</a> from the U.S. Department of Education, I calculated that the average Pell Grant recipient received an amount from that program that was five times greater than what they received in state grant aid and 2.6 times greater than the amount of scholarship assistance received from the institution attended.</p>
<p>Without Pell Grants, in other words, many low-income students would not be able to attend college, or would not be able to attend full time and make good progress toward earning their degree.</p>
<h2>Pell Grant value dips, tuition increases</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/states-and-public-higher-education-policy">book</a> I edited a few years ago, I demonstrated that back in the 1970s, a student attending a public, four-year university and receiving the maximum Pell Grant would have approximately 80 percent of the price of her college education – tuition, housing, food, books and miscellaneous costs – covered by the grant. </p>
<p>If the student had no resources of her own to contribute, the remaining 20 percent of the cost was often made up through state grants, scholarships from the university, work study and perhaps a small amount of student loans.</p>
<p>Today the maximum that a Pell Grant covers is only about <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/trends-student-aid-web-final-508-2.pdf">30 percent</a> of the price of attending college for that same student. The erosion in the value of the grant is due to two reasons: 1) the rising price of college attendance and 2) a drop in the real value of Pell Grants.</p>
<p>Since 1985, average tuition prices at public, four-year colleges and universities have increased <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/published-tuition-and-fees-relative-1985-86-sector">222 percent</a> after adjusting for inflation. The situation at private four-year colleges and community colleges is only slightly better – average prices in the two sectors have increased more than 130 percent in real terms during the same three decade period.</p>
<p>Pell Grants, in contrast, have grown much less rapidly. The average grant increased only <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/federal-pell-award-current-constant-dollars-over-time">30 percent</a> in inflation-adjusted dollars during this same period.</p>
<p>In the latter half of the 1980s and through most of the 1990s, Congress and a series of presidents – Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton – allowed the purchasing value of Pell Grants to decline even further. </p>
<p>The maximum Pell Grant actually dropped <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/federal-pell-award-current-constant-dollars-over-time">19 percent</a> in real dollars between 1985 and 1996. While federal funding over the last two decades has allowed it to regain some of its value, the maximum Pell Grant today is still below the 1975 level in inflation-adjusted dollars.</p>
<h2>Impact of GOP proposal</h2>
<p>As bad as this situation is, it could get much worse. The current <a href="http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy16budget.pdf">Republican spending plan</a> in the House of Representatives proposes to place a cap on the maximum Pell Grant. What this means is that it would stay at its 2015-16 level for the next 10 years. </p>
<p>While it is hard to predict for sure what will happen to tuition prices over the next decade, it is fairly certain that prices will continue to rise. This will cause the value of the Pell Grant to erode even further during this period.</p>
<p>For example, again, based on my calculations, if college prices increase 3 percent per year over the next decade, and Pell Grants are held at their current level, its purchasing power at public four-year institutions would drop from 30 percent of total college costs today to only 21 percent in 2026. </p>
<p>At private four-year institutions, the Pell value would drop from 17 percent of costs today to only 12 percent 10 years from now. </p>
<p>The Republican proposal, if enacted, would undoubtedly have an impact on the college access and success of students from low- and moderate-income families. Constraining the grant aid available to them from the federal financial aid programs could force more students to drop out of college. Or, students could take longer to earn their degrees, or could afford to attend only a community college rather than a four-year institution. </p>
<p>The impact on college access for these students would be detrimental to the nation as a whole. As President Obama noted in his first <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-barack-obama-address-joint-session-congress">address</a> to Congress in 2009, the future growth of our economy will depend on having more workers with post-secondary credentials. Without a Pell Grant program that keeps pace with college costs, we will be unable to attain this goal. </p>
<p>Clinton and Trump should be talking about the issue of college affordability on the campaign trail. But they need to address all of the policies that help make college affordable for students and their families.</p>
<p>Funding for the Pell Grant program is a critical component of that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller has in the past received funding from U.S. public agencies, non-profit organizations, and foundations for his research. He currently is not receiving external funding for his work.</span></em></p>Pell Grants, the federal aid program for low-income students, are down to covering only 30 percent of tuition, from 80 percent in the 1970s.Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/579472016-05-27T02:05:51Z2016-05-27T02:05:51ZIs a tuition-free policy enough to ensure college success?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124215/original/image-20160526-22080-xf9voi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do the most disadvantaged students need for college success?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;language=en&amp;ref_site=photo&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;autocomplete_id=&amp;search_tracking_id=jJPm_yhyTe-uRQMiFq79EQ&amp;searchterm=commencement&amp;show_color_wheel=1&amp;orient=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;media_type=images&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;color=&amp;page=1&amp;inline=298297466">Commencement image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across the U.S., many soon-to-be high school graduates are excited to begin college. Over the past decades, <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/education-pays-2013-full-report-022714.pdf">rates of college enrollment have increased</a>. In 1950, only 16 percent of young people had at least some college exposure. By 2012, this figure rose to 63 percent. </p>
<p>Such trends should be seen as a positive but for the fact that too many students who begin college don’t finish. Among a recent cohort of students enrolled in four-year degree programs, <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cva.asp">only three in five</a> completed their bachelor’s degree within six years. </p>
<p>Further, socioeconomic gaps in college completion are large. Among students from high-income backgrounds who recently started college, three-quarters earned a degree. In contrast, <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_tva.asp">under half</a> of low-income students who matriculated earned any kind of postsecondary credential. Of particular concern is the fact that gaps in degree attainment <a href="http://www.russellsage.org/research/chartbook/fraction-students-completing-college-income-quartile-and-birth-year">have widened over time</a>. </p>
<p>To address some of these concerns, Democratic presidential candidates have proposed improving college access and success for the most disadvantaged students including making public colleges and universities <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/feed/how-much-would-hillary-clintons-debt-free-college-plan-save-you-even-if-youve-already-graduated/">debt-free</a> or <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">tuition-free</a>. </p>
<p>In our own research, we have investigated the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775716301248">many barriers</a> students can face in accessing and succeeding in college. So, what does rigorous evidence tell us about potential solutions? Is a free college tuition policy sufficient for improving college access and success in the U.S.?</p>
<h2>College costs and financial aid</h2>
<p>Public college costs have risen substantially over time and faster than the rate of inflation, as state and local budget allocations <a href="http://www.basicbooks.com/full-details?isbn=9780465044962">have failed to keep pace with rising enrollments</a>. </p>
<p>Over the two-decade period from 1995 to 2015, the average net cost of college attendance, inclusive of room and board, at public four-year institutions <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/2015-trends-college-pricing-final-508.pdf">has risen from US$8,450 to just over $14,000</a>. For families in the bottom fifth of the income distribution, this implies that sending a child to a public four-year institution would require over <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775716301248">40 percent of the annual household budget</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124214/original/image-20160526-22050-3hx01a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124214/original/image-20160526-22050-3hx01a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124214/original/image-20160526-22050-3hx01a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124214/original/image-20160526-22050-3hx01a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124214/original/image-20160526-22050-3hx01a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124214/original/image-20160526-22050-3hx01a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124214/original/image-20160526-22050-3hx01a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Financial aid helps. But is that enough?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;language=en&amp;ref_site=photo&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;autocomplete_id=&amp;search_tracking_id=X4LAzmkh4a-fD6N5LQXdUA&amp;searchterm=college%20debt&amp;show_color_wheel=1&amp;orient=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;media_type=images&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;color=&amp;page=1&amp;inline=318232658">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Providing financial assistance to low-income students does improve college success. <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w15387.pdf">Studies</a> that have rigorously examined the impact of lowering college costs have indicated benefits. For example, the <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w19306">Florida Student Assistance Grant</a>, which provides low-income students with an additional $1,300 grant on top of Pell Grant funds, increased six-year bachelor’s degree attainment rates from 21 to 26 percent. The <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/685442">Wisconsin Scholars program</a>, which provides a $3,500 annual grant for low-income students to attend a Wisconsin public university, similarly increased on-time graduation for recipients from 16 to 21 percent. </p>
<p>However, at least <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2016/04/21-who-would-benefit-most-from-free-college-chingos">one recent analysis</a> should give policymakers and advocates pause about turning to universal free tuition as a strategy for improving college success. <a href="http://www.urban.org/author/matthew-chingos">Matthew Chingos</a> of the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, found that such a plan could yield disproportionate benefits to higher-income rather than lower-income students and families across the country. </p>
<p>Therefore, while such a policy may improve outcomes for low-income students, it would also be providing a substantial benefit to students who already have a high likelihood of accessing and succeeding in college. </p>
<h2>Understanding challenges to college success</h2>
<p>An important point to recognize from the Florida and Wisconsin studies is that, even among students who received additional grant funds, college completion rates remained low. How, then, can we improve rates of college success, particularly for those students at greatest risk of attrition? </p>
<p>To answer this question, we must understand the nuanced challenges that students can face, beyond issues directly related to college affordability. </p>
<p>Consider the challenges faced by one student, let’s call her Veronika, in starting her college career. We learned about her experience through ongoing research investigating the factors that contribute to college success. A very strong high school student, Veronika was a mother of two when she was admitted to her state’s prestigious public flagship university. </p>
<p>Although thrilled at the prospect of college, Veronika struggled to identify affordable childcare in the vicinity of the university. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to attend school while also caring for her children. She needed financial aid but also additional guidance.</p>
<p>Fortunately, Veronika received this support through a college success program with which she was affiliated. The program not only helped her locate affordable childcare near campus, but also counseled her to petition for an increase of financial aid to cover the cost. Her initial aid package had not considered child care expenses. </p>
<p>Another student, Marcus, transitioned successfully to college but retained responsibility for supporting his family financially. The dual demands of being a full-time student and working to provide for his family became too much. Marcus stumbled academically, was placed on probation, and lost his financial aid.</p>
<p>The same college success organization stepped in to provide just-in-time financial assistance in addition to guiding him to develop a plan that struck a manageable balance between school and work. </p>
<h2>Low-income students need more than free college</h2>
<p>How much of a difference does it make when students are provided more comprehensive support, including personalized counseling, and not just financial aid?</p>
<p>To inform this question, we collaborated with <a href="http://curry.virginia.edu/about/directory/benjamin-l.-castleman">Ben Castleman</a> at the University of Virginia and <a href="http://www.econ.pitt.edu/people/phd-students">Gumilang Sahadewo</a> at the University of Pittsburgh to rigorously examine the <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2726320%22%22">impact of one such progam</a> – <a href="http://www.dellscholars.org/">the Dell Scholars Program. </a></p>
<p>The Dell Scholars program aims to support low-income and first-generation college students by providing a combination of scholarship aid and “…ongoing support and assistance to address all of the emotional, lifestyle, and financial challenges that may prevent scholars from completing college.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124216/original/image-20160526-22086-1sq17pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124216/original/image-20160526-22086-1sq17pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=411&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124216/original/image-20160526-22086-1sq17pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=411&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124216/original/image-20160526-22086-1sq17pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=411&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124216/original/image-20160526-22086-1sq17pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=517&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124216/original/image-20160526-22086-1sq17pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=517&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124216/original/image-20160526-22086-1sq17pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=517&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students need other support services as well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;language=en&amp;ref_site=photo&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;autocomplete_id=&amp;search_tracking_id=8BCGXdMP8Kv3QlZ3qgYb9g&amp;searchterm=counselling%20students&amp;show_color_wheel=1&amp;orient=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;media_type=images&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;color=&amp;page=1&amp;inline=32984956">Girl image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>This support includes prematriculation counseling sessions as well as regular tracking of student progress and follow up, as needed, to guide and support students throughout their post-secondary career. We studied 1,800 Dell Scholars selected from nearly 40,000 applicants over six cohorts and attending hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the U.S.</p>
<p>We found the program led to substantial improvements in bachelor’s degree attainment. For example, for the cohort we could track for a full six years, the program increased bachelor’s degree attainment from 61 to 75 percent. </p>
<h2>Experience from other scholarship programs</h2>
<p>Other studies also point to evidence of college success through comprehensive college supports. </p>
<p>Researchers <a href="https://sanford.duke.edu/people/faculty/clotfelter-charles-t">Charles Clotfelter</a>, <a href="http://hemelt.web.unc.edu/">Steven Hemelt</a> and <a href="https://sanford.duke.edu/people/faculty/ladd-helen-f">Helen Ladd</a> investigated the impact of the <a href="http://carolinacovenant.unc.edu/">Carolina Covenant</a>, which supports students from low-income backgrounds to attend University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. </p>
<p>The program began in 2004 exclusively to provide need-based financial aid. By 2007, however, the program also provided students with additional counseling and support services. </p>
<p>The researchers found that the program improved the four-year degree completion rate for qualifying students by <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2769196">eight percentage points</a> but only for those cohorts who were provided not just financial, but also non-financial support. </p>
<p>Similarly, at the City University of New York, the <a href="http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/asap/">Accelerated Study in Associates Program (ASAP)</a> which works with low-income community college students, provides support that includes financial aid, special classes, additional advising and career services, free public transportation and free use of textbooks.</p>
<p>Researchers <a href="http://www.mdrc.org/about/susan-scrivener">Susan Scrivener</a> and <a href="http://www.mdrc.org/about/michael-j-weiss">Michael Weiss</a> found that the program increased associates degree attainment <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2393088">from 18 percent to 33 percent</a> within 2.5 years of students beginning the program. </p>
<p>Critics may argue that ASAP is too expensive, given that it results in substantially higher per student investment. Researchers <a href="http://www.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/hl361/">Henry Levin</a> and <a href="http://www.epi.org/people/emma-garcia/">Emma Garcia</a> have shown, however, that because the program so effectively improved degree attainment, <a href="http://cbcse.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Levin-ASAP-Cost-Effectiveness-Report_092412_FINAL-5.pdf">it led to lower costs on a per-graduate basis</a>. </p>
<p>Taken together, this work points to looking beyond blanket solutions such as free college tuition for all. Many students, and particularly those from low-income backgrounds, face challenges that go beyond simply meeting tuition. </p>
<p>Awarding such students with packages that include financial aid bundled with counseling and other support is likely to yield more success in improving overall degree attainment rates. In contrast, universal free tuition would invest fewer resources where they are needed and more where they are not.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57947/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindsay Page received research funding from the Michael &amp; Susan Dell Foundation to support the evaluation of the Dell Scholars program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stacy S. Kehoe received research funding from the Michael &amp; Susan Dell Foundation to support the evaluation of the Dell Scholars program.</span></em></p>Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have called for making colleges and universities debt-free or tuition-free. Disadvantaged students need more than free college to achieve success.Lindsay Page, Assistant Professor of Research Methodology, University of PittsburghStacy S. Kehoe, PhD Student, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/599262016-05-26T01:24:03Z2016-05-26T01:24:03ZTrump's higher ed proposals could leave poor students out of college<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123850/original/image-20160524-25213-1vnpqrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What will Trump&#39;s higher ed plan mean for students?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5440990018/in/photolist-9hNuLJ-9hHrVT-9hKraP-9hKpmZ-9hKoVK-9hLwdw-9hKpTt-9v62wo-eULu15-e47mhL-e41GKR-e41EUk-e47k59-e47jUm-e47hqo-e41ELr-e47i8s-e41GhK-e47hS1-e47hxW-e47kUu-e47mPN-e47jAC-9hNvKd-e41Jw8-sc2gdA-segL58-rWJfw5-cJjFP-e47hHh-rWKnwC-kNDYwa-9VQfNH-kNFjPw-g25GLQ-5nrmkz-dpHmsu-g1XPzf-g25NZH-c8zKr7-9hgBjx-9CtYNw-e7BGMN-9nkVU5-c8cbaC-rpJw2x-d5X6uS-6mtZaz-aSA4wt-emNEdj">Gage Skidmore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is happening, or what should be happening, on college campuses has rarely, if ever, been a topic of the remarks of Donald J. Trump, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/issues">“Issues”</a> section of his website has only this related to education: “I will end common core. It’s a disaster.” And this is accompanied by a 51-second video expanding on this theme. </p>
<p>However, recently, Trump’s campaign co-chair and policy director, Sam Clovis, gave an interview to an education website, Inside Higher Ed, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/13/trumps-campaign-co-chair-describes-higher-education-policies-being-developed">that outlined</a> what a Trump presidency could mean for the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_317.30.asp">nation’s 6,000 colleges</a> and universities, and its <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_303.10.asp">over 20 million</a> post-secondary students. Clovis is a <a href="http://webs.morningside.edu/business/facultypages/clovis.html">professor of economics at Morningside College</a>, a small private institution in Iowa, who is currently on leave in order to work for the campaign.</p>
<p>The major theme that emerged from the information he provided was that as president, Trump would improve student success by reforming the federal student loan program in two ways: 1) change the student loan program so as to provide more incentives for colleges and universities to enroll students who will be successful and earn enough money upon graduation to pay back their loans; and 2) to return the federal loan program to its pre-Obama status by having the loans come from private lenders, rather than the federal government.</p>
<p>I am a provost and a researcher of education economics. And here’s what some unintended consequences of these proposals would look like.</p>
<h2>Incentivizing colleges to enroll successful students</h2>
<p>First, let’s look at the proposal to change the student loan program so that rather than the federal government being the sole guarantor of publicly provided and guaranteed loans, the higher education institutions themselves would share in the costs if a student defaulted. </p>
<p>This idea has been floated fairly widely recently, most notably by <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/06/12/elizabeth_warren_and_student_loan_risk_sharing_should_colleges_pay_a_fine.html">Senator Elizabeth Warren</a>, a politician most people would expect to have little in common with Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The logic behind this idea is that if colleges were at least in part responsible for making good on a defaulted student loan, they will be better incentivized to enroll only those students (or at least those carrying federally guaranteed loans) who are likely to graduate from the institution and get a job that will provide a high enough salary to enable them to pay back the loans. </p>
<p>While this may seem good in concept, in practice it would be very difficult to implement. And here is why:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Can colleges predict who will succeed?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jirka_matousek/8468745497/in/photolist-dUmwZp-dQZnke-az8Zy7-dUqX47-pVzkT1-4eorj6-brUftj-cdtiF3-brU99y-5oGQ6t-cdtiGw-dR5U2j-rwdnPm-oKMmoR-dQV9Cg-9Kpwwj-dj1C31-dUmq72-iiUd8i-hShXaJ-e4hhNr-dRLHNd-fqsd1h-isqBd1-5v3gqp-8H6wDG-dQWsnH-dRLFqd-fqcN7g-dR4kbG-nCMWpy-dewUp8-dQWAqX-bsi9on-iiTUuy-5v7B7G-nhubJQ-oNsGaD-dRPrs2-4msxSN-bw86is-onGX6-dRMdk7-dRY1Kd-dUssDo-efWWyn-9VAPa4-e6Cmp6-nKHFLJ-cdtged">Jirka Matousek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The challenge is that it is extremely difficult for colleges to know, or even predict with much certainty, which students will achieve this level of success. </p>
<p>For the most part, we are talking about 17- and 18-year-olds, and it can be very difficult to know which of them will graduate and earn enough money to pay back their loans, even when universities have information about their academic background.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d14/tables/dt14_303.45.asp">most recent data</a> from the U.S. Department of Education show that 69 percent of all undergraduates in 2013 were 24 or younger. And the great majority of students applying to college for the first time are coming directly out of high school.</p>
<p>An unintended consequence of such a requirement would be that institutions would be more likely to shy away from enrolling students from disadvantaged families, and those whose academic preparation was weaker. <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/grants#Pell%20Grants">Over a third of all undergraduates</a> receive Pell Grants, the federal assistance program for students from low- and moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Such a move would exacerbate the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_302.30.asp">large gaps in college enrollment</a> and degree attainment that already exist in this country. It would lead to <a href="https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/inequality/index.html">even higher rates of income inequality</a> across income and racial groups. </p>
<p>Every year, thousands of students graduate from college and go on to successful careers who, at first glance when they were graduating from high school, may have looked like risky investments. </p>
<p>Another impact of this proposal is that it could lead to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/education/as-interest-fades-in-the-humanities-colleges-worry.html">further deterioration</a> of liberal arts education, as colleges may deemphasize majors that are seen as not having strong labor market prospects. Some politicians, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/rick-scott-anthropology-major-daughter-jobs_n_1007900.html">including Governor Rick Scott</a> of Florida and even President Obama, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/31/obama-becomes-latest-politician-criticize-liberal-arts-discipline">have questioned</a> whether liberal arts degrees are worth the investment. </p>
<p>But data from the Association of American Colleges and Universities have demonstrated that over the long run liberal arts graduates <a href="https://www.aacu.org/press/press-releases/new-report-documents-liberal-arts-disciplines-prepare-graduates-long-term">earn as much</a> as many with more technical degrees.</p>
<h2>History of student loans</h2>
<p>Now let’s turn to the issue of loans through private lenders. Since the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which first authorized widespread student loan program, banks have played a key role in the system.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who will be left behind if loans are given by private lenders.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&amp;language=en&amp;ref_site=photo&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;version=llv1&amp;anyorall=all&amp;safesearch=1&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;autocomplete_id=&amp;searchterm=student%20loan&amp;show_color_wheel=1&amp;orient=&amp;commercial_ok=&amp;media_type=images&amp;search_cat=&amp;searchtermx=&amp;photographer_name=&amp;people_gender=&amp;people_age=&amp;people_ethnicity=&amp;people_number=&amp;color=&amp;page=1&amp;inline=410840608">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Banks originally provided all the capital, and because the loans were guaranteed by the federal government, it became a lucrative business for them. But in 1993, during the first Clinton administration, a <a href="http://atlas.newamerica.org/federal-student-loan-programs-history">federally originated student loan program</a> was created. This was done as an attempt to lower the cost of borrowing to students by removing some of the banks’ profits.</p>
<p>Between 1993 and 2010, bank-originated and federally originated student loans coexisted, with the federal share <a href="http://atlas.newamerica.org/federal-student-loan-programs-history">no more than one-third of the volume</a>. During President Obama’s first term, however, he signed legislation that removed banks from the federal student loan program entirely, shifting all of the loan origination to the federal government.</p>
<p>The rationale behind this legislation, signed in 2010, was to take away the profits earned by banks, and instead reinvest them in the federal Pell Grant program, which provides direct assistance to college students from low- and middle-income families.</p>
<h2>What about disadvantaged students?</h2>
<p>Trump’s proposal is certainly consistent with his business-based, free-market approach to government. As Clovis said in his interview, “We think it should be marketplace and market driven.” </p>
<p>While the question of whether the banks or the government should provide student loans may be a political one, there are large fiscal implications of shifting back to a bank-based system. </p>
<p>At the time the 2010 legislation passed, the Congressional Budget Office had estimated that the federal government would <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/A-Year-After-Bank-Based/126927">save almost US$10 billion per year</a> that had been going to banks in the form of loan subsidies and fees. </p>
<p>That money came to be invested in funding for the Pell Grant program rather than going to bank profits.</p>
<p>A return to a bank lending system for student loans could potentially reduce levels of Pell Grant funding, unless Congress (along with the next president) is willing to appropriate more money. </p>
<p>Any reduction in Pell Grant funding would have a similar effect as Trump’s proposal: it would reduce college access and graduation rates for poorer, African-
American, Latino and Native American students. And that would lead to increased gaps in educational attainment between these groups and students from more advantaged families. </p>
<h2>A complex system</h2>
<p>The truth is that higher education policy is not quite as simple as it may appear to an outsider. </p>
<p>The interaction of federal and state policies, along with the actions of the thousands of colleges and universities that are funded by governments as well as students, creates a complex system in which it is often difficult to encourage some behaviors without creating other problems.</p>
<p>The high cost of college along with the high volume of student debt have received much attention from both groups in recent years. There has been an absence of detailed proposals in this arena from Trump’s campaign up until now. His slogan of “Make America Great Again” implies returning to some bygone era. </p>
<p>But for higher education, a return to that era would mean that fewer students are able to go to college, and poorer and racial minority students have fewer educational opportunities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What will a Trump presidency mean for America's 6,000 colleges and universities, as well as its over 20 million postsecondary students?Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/556752016-03-03T11:19:38Z2016-03-03T11:19:38ZShould wealthier students get subsidized college education?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113593/original/image-20160302-25891-1e2tqpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Should college be free for all?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/editor/1252393940/in/photolist-2UER5Y-8Kg5gC-epeWK6-6qQpsy-rKn3Y-epeYDv-5Dy8en-epf3w4-eqbdhE-eqbgj1-epf1vk-epeQsx-g7c5rR-fhvYG-2PJJS7-eqbcjA-5fHXC-73tDHU-eqbh8b-ju1QXw-epf3Ni-8Fozko-eqbe7E-eqb9yN-epeVV4-2PEhia-73pDov-epeQYH-epeSSR-epf1Qr-epeZoV-hfQ3Bw-epf2cD-eqbaym-epeUDn-eqbeo5-dUEdM7-epeTfF-8CVxjb-66zgNY-5uGfrA-fiB1MX-4rKaxc-7vYcoz-5ZkjCD-baEjSv-8CSswk-66zgtA-dQoaUW-7Acf9f">Bart Everson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last summer, as the presidential campaign was just getting rolling in earnest, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton <a href="http://theconversation.com/clintons-debt-free-college-comes-with-a-price-tag-46378" title=') "[New College Compact](https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factsheets/2015/08/10/college-compact/ "'>announced</a>,“ a proposal designed to provide relief for the rapidly rising sticker price of college. </p>
<p>Subsequently, Senator Bernie Sanders took Secretary Clinton’s proposal for debt-free college and doubled down on the idea by proposing to <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">eliminate college tuition entirely</a> in public universities and community colleges.</p>
<p>From my perspective, as a researcher of college access and finance over the last two decades, the reality is that free college makes little sense in today’s political and economic environment.</p>
<h2>Rising costs, Clinton’s plans</h2>
<p>Data from the <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing">Trends in Student Pricing</a> report show that in the decade 2005-06 to 2015-16, the average sticker (nondiscounted) price at public, four-year universities rose 40 percent in real dollars, that is, after discounting for inflation. </p>
<p>Prices at private four-year universities rose slightly less rapidly, 26 percent, but still greatly in excess of inflation. At community colleges they rose 29 percent.</p>
<p>The centerpiece of Clinton’s program is to invest US$350 billion over 10 years to help control the growth of college prices. As she states on her campaign website:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Students should never have to borrow to pay for tuition, books, and fees to attend a four-year public college in their state under the New College Compact. The additional support they receive will reduce all costs, including living expenses, by thousands of dollars. Students at community college will receive free tuition. Students will have to do their part by contributing their earnings from working 10 hours a week.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, in return for a modest amount of work, students would not have to borrow at all to pay the educational costs of attending a four-year public college (though they still may need to borrow for room and board). And students attending community colleges would not pay any tuition at all. </p>
<p>This amount would represent a doubling of the current federal investment in<a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell"> Pell Grants</a>, by far the largest federal scholarship program for students from low- and moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Clinton’s plan would also provide grants directly to states to encourage them to slow the growth rate of prices in public colleges and universities.</p>
<h2>Sanders, Rubio, Cruz, Trump</h2>
<p>Senator Bernie Sanders took Secretary Clinton’s proposal for debt-free college even further by proposing to <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">eliminate college tuition entirely</a> in public universities and community colleges.</p>
<p>At a cost of $75 billion per year, or more than twice that of Clinton’s plan, Sanders’ proposal is targeted at young voters who are strapped to pay for college, or pay back the student loans they had taken out for college. </p>
<p>How are they going to pay for their free college plans? Both candidates have suggested similar strategies, Clinton by limiting tax credits and deductions for high-income Americans, and <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">Sanders</a> by imposing a tax on "Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy seven years ago.” </p>
<p>In comparison to their Democratic counterparts, the leading candidates for the Republican nomination have focused little on higher education.</p>
<p>Senator Marco Rubio is the only one of the GOP front-runners to talk about it in any detail. He <a href="https://marcorubio.com/issues-2/marco-rubio-position-higher-education-policy-college/">does not propose</a> any new federal investment in financial aid to help students cope with the growth of college prices. He focuses instead on encouraging innovation as a mechanism to bring prices down, by encouraging new providers in the higher education market and alternative delivery mechanisms that are perceived to be more efficient. </p>
<p>Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump – whose Super Tuesday performance has propelled him far ahead of his rivals – have been largely silent with respect to how they would lessen the burden of paying for college.</p>
<h2>Who needs free college?</h2>
<p>While the idea of free college has gained much traction in the media, the reality is that free college makes little sense in today’s political and economic environment. </p>
<p>All of the data point to the fact that <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/843.full">college is still a good investment</a> on average, even with prices as high as they are. </p>
<p>While it is equally true that many students, especially those from poorer families, are <a href="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/is-college-unaffordable">discouraged</a> from attending college by the high price, the reality is that net college prices – or what students actually pay after subtracting the scholarships they receive from the sticker prices – are <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing">rising less quickly</a> than are sticker prices. </p>
<p>For example, average net prices in four-year private universities increased only 1.3 percent over the last decade in real dollars, while prices at community colleges actually decreased. Only in public four-year universities have net prices tracked closer to sticker prices, largely because of the large state disinvestment in public higher education during the recession.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=333&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=333&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=333&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=418&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=418&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=418&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do all students need free education?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fleshmanpix/8260830860/in/photolist-dzYVdh-64rPAo-5zd2cK-5AxiFe-5sfurc-so7APc-dkk864-7DxQw-nqez7k-bFmfvK-aMJ5rV-nqeh3n-5zjWKK-2zrBdL-aYmH8V-5sfuwD-nqerS3-qNMtEP-dzTr1T-dzTrwr-5zd2CH-dzTrFD-nqerCW-9qyfMw-dzTrz6-2zrBRN-apemzB-nJvgTP-dzYV8b-anbmFG-dzYVaG-b3Hzjc-dzYV3E-9weSom-avi2XE-8y32yB-nEFdJE-nGqVTr-nGqW7x-5zEzJi-dzTqqt-dzYURW-nqerDC-nGHRKX-bUH7WQ-nqerqS-nqezKK-5zjpeR-dzYVfu-nJvgTt">Michael Fleshman</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing">Another reality</a> is that students from upper-income families are attending college in record numbers and having little difficulty in paying for it. </p>
<p>So the question is: how can the expenditure of funds be better targeted?</p>
<p>In Clinton’s case, her $35 billion per year would better be spent, in my view, by doubling expenditures in the Pell Grant program, keeping the money focused on students from the bottom half of the income distribution. </p>
<p>Rather than giving subsidies to wealthier students who have demonstrated the ability and willingness to pay for college, current Pell recipients – whose grants are capped at $5,775 this year – could receive a Pell Grant in excess of $11,000. </p>
<p>If the same logic was applied to what Sanders proposes to spend, these same students could see their grants rise to almost $15,000.</p>
<h2>Giving money where it is needed</h2>
<p>The fact is broad subsidies end up benefiting many students who do not need the support of public funds to attend college. </p>
<p>So, an even better use of the additional funds proposed by the two Democratic candidates would be to split the money between increasing Pell Grants and providing more academic and social support to poorer and first-generation students both before and while they are enrolled in college. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html">federal TRIO programs</a> provide exactly this kind of assistance by offering academic support, mentoring and study skills services to first-generation students. The approximately $1 billion currently budgeted for these programs by the federal government, however, allows them to serve only about 10 percent of eligible students annually.</p>
<p>Expanding such programs, along with increasing targeted Pell Grant aid, would likely have a much broader impact on increasing the proportion of Americans attending college and earning degrees.</p>
<p>Whoever goes on to capture the White House in November can best tackle the problem of rising college prices by focusing any additional spending on students who truly need more support from the federal government.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller has received funding for his research on college access and finance in the past from federal agencies and private foundations.</span></em></p>Presidential candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have proposed a debt-free or a free college education. Is this feasible? Should wealthier students get such subsidies?Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/460642015-08-14T10:21:08Z2015-08-14T10:21:08ZTo reduce debt, give students more information to make wise college choice decisions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91787/original/image-20150813-21401-goktux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How can you make smart choices?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/student+debt/search.html?page=6&amp;thumb_size=mosaic&amp;inline=107004452">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Higher education has gotten a lot of attention during the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. All three major candidates for the Democratic nomination – former New York Senator <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/factsheets/2015/08/10/college-compact/">Hillary Clinton</a>, former Maryland Governor <a href="https://martinomalley.com/the-latest/op-ed/debt-free-college/">Martin O’Malley</a> and Vermont Senator <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/05/20/senator-sanders-unveils-debt-free-college-bill">Bernie Sanders</a> – have proposed different plans to reduce or eliminate student loan debt at public colleges. </p>
<p>However, the price tags of these plans (<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/hillary-clintons-350-billion-plan-to-kill-college-debt-121210.html">at least US$350 billion over 10 years</a> for Clinton’s proposal) will make free college highly unlikely. Republicans, including leading presidential candidates, have already made their <a href="https://www.atr.org/gop-presidential-candidates-call-out-hillary-student-loan-debt-tax-hike">opposition</a> quite clear. </p>
<p>But student loan debt is unlikely to go away anytime soon. What is important for now is that students and their families get better information about tuition costs and college outcomes so they can make more informed decisions, especially as the investments are so large. </p>
<h2>What colleges will reveal</h2>
<p>Although colleges are required to submit data on hundreds of items to the federal government each year, only a few measures that are currently available are important to most students and their families:</p>
<p>First, colleges must report graduation rates for first-time, full-time students. This does a good job reflecting the outcomes at selective colleges, where most students go full-time. </p>
<p>But full-time students make up only <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/new-college-data-give-fuller-picture-of-graduation-rates--and-show-challenges/2014/07/18/92578f92-0dba-11e4-8341-b8072b1e7348_story.html">a small percentage of students</a> at some colleges, and data on the graduation rates of part-time students will not be available <a href="https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/VisChangesForNextYear.aspx">until 2017</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91790/original/image-20150813-21409-g8y1dw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The price tag of Hillary Clinton’s college plan is too steep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcn/459273407/in/photolist-GzTZ2-8RH697-8RH36G-5nQ8Di-8LB8Qq-8QR5HB-d7gWDJ-mrReoE-8Ly4yP-8REeWa-8JY11p-5Kdyef-8QBHsp-8RHyQN-8REfen-8RHi2d-fMNYMT-51xeXX-7CH2et-nE6JX4-51xn4V-4nnB-5K9hMD-CxRwv-63iZXW-8RHAiW-8RDKmH-5KdyTh-dRw3Gs-dRw4ds-8RGUWN-8RGVb7-8RGUsS-8RDJ1n-8RDJ9x-8RDHvc-8RDLo4-8RDJtk-8RDGPx-8RGSq3-8RDKvn-8RGThm-8RH2XJ-8RH6sA-8RH5j3-8RH1t5-8RGWdm-8RDNHg-8RDTpa-8RDQbk">Marc Nozell</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Colleges must also report net prices (the cost of attendance less all grant aid received) by different family income brackets. The cost of attendance (defined as tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, and other living expenses such as transportation and laundry) and the resulting net price are important measures of affordability. </p>
<p>Because financial aid packages can vary across colleges with similar sticker prices, net prices are important to give students an idea of what they might expect to pay. </p>
<p>Colleges that offer their students federal loans must report the percentage of students who defaulted on their loans within three years of leaving college. This measure reflects whether students are able to make enough money to repay their loans. Colleges must also report average student loan debt burdens, so students can see what their future payments might look like.</p>
<p>In addition, vocationally oriented programs must report debt and earnings metrics under new federal “<a href="http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/gainfulemployment.html">gainful employment</a>” regulations. This provides students in technical fields a clear idea of what they might expect to make.</p>
<p>The Obama administration has promised that additional information on student outcomes will be made available <a href="http://www.ed.gov/blog/2015/06/helping-families-navigate-their-higher-education-options/">“later this summer”</a>, although they have not said what will be made available. </p>
<h2>What don’t we know?</h2>
<p>Despite the availability of information on some key outcomes, more can still be done to help students make wise decisions about which college to attend. </p>
<p>Below are some example of outcomes that would be helpful for students and their families to know about.</p>
<p>Although <a href="http://www.demos.org/blog/5/18/14/college-graduation-gap">enormous gaps</a> in college completion rates exist by family income, students and their families cannot currently access data on the graduation rates of low-income students receiving federal Pell Grants. (The federal government <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/12/ratings-fight-over-education-department-prepares-launch-new-consumer-tool">is purchasing data</a> from the National Student Clearinghouse to fix this going forward.) </p>
<p>Colleges are required to report the percentage of minority students and the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants, but nothing is known about the percentage of first-generation students. </p>
<p>This is of particular interest given the key policy goal of improving access to American higher education; without this information, it is harder to tell which colleges are engines of social mobility.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=401&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=504&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=504&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91791/original/image-20150813-21421-op7nby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=504&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students need to have more information.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lyndakuit/5434905857/in/photolist-9hgjap-fcJDpK-bteKdy-bH6WGB-9hjsyY-q8nBZK-5AxhEc-bG9A4M-aEG9gw-bsvD9Q-dzYVdh-buc6VS-buc7cu-bss9eu-edWQtn-bFmgPP-bFmfC4-bFmgtz-buc76J-bH6UTF-7Wxo2N-bFoxNK-bss9Bf-bstKcW-bFoACK-bstEQy-bFoBV2-bstKJs-bFnhaz-bss9U1-sSPdDz-sdsian-bFmfvK-aRZ4uR-9gL6Np-dzYUDC-dzYURW-dzYVfu-dzTrwr-dzYTBC-dzYV8b-dzTqyH-dzYVaG-dzTrqv-dzTrFD-dzTrz6-dzTqqt-dzTr1T-dzYU7u-5zqnrm">Lynda Kuit</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Private-sector organizations such as <a href="http://www.payscale.com/college-roi">PayScale</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/edu/?trk=edu-cp-rr-ad">LinkedIn</a> work to fill this gap, but they can only provide a limited amount of information.</p>
<h2>How could we know more?</h2>
<p>The data needed to answer many of the questions above are already held by the federal government, but in multiple databases that are <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdf">not allowed</a> to communicate with each other. </p>
<p>The greatest barrier to better information from the federal government is due to a provision included in the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/downloads/CollegeBlackoutFINAL.pdf">which banned the federal government</a> from creating a “student unit record” data system that would link financial aid, enrollment and employment outcomes for students receiving federal financial aid dollars. This ban was put in place in part due to concerns over data privacy, and in part due to an intense lobbying effort from private nonprofit colleges.</p>
<p>States, in contrast, are allowed to have unit record data systems, and a few of them make detailed information available to anyone at the click of a mouse. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://research.schev.edu/studentdebt/DebtProfile_SL020.asp">Virginia makes a host of student loan debt information</a> available in a series of convenient tables and graphics. </p>
<p>Senator Rubio has teamed with Democratic Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Warner of Virginia to introduce legislation <a href="http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-rubio-warner-introduce-the-student-right-to-know-before-you-go-act">overturning the ban on unit record data,</a> although no action has yet been taken in Congress.</p>
<p>A bipartisan push to make more information available to students and their families has the potential to help students make better decisions. </p>
<p>But getting data is only one part of the challenge. The other is getting that into the hands of students at the right time. For that, it is important for the federal government to work with college access organizations and guidance counselors.</p>
<p>Students should be able to access this information as they begin considering attending college. Although additional information may not allow a student to graduate debt-free, it will help him or her to make a more informed decision about where to attend college and if the price tag is worth paying.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Kelchen is the methodologist for Washington Monthly magazine&#39;s annual college rankings and uses available federal data to compile the rankings.</span></em></p>Hillary Clinton recently announced a US$350 billion plan to make college free. But what students need for now is information that can help them make sound decisions about their college investment.Robert Kelchen, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Seton Hall UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/454762015-07-31T10:48:55Z2015-07-31T10:48:55ZHere is why it makes sense to reopen access to Pell grants for prisoners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90359/original/image-20150730-25757-1uv5yr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When men and women go to college in prison, they often do not return to the world of crime.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosefirerising/4437628669/in/photolist-7L91p8-6BAPLG-7L91nV-cmJJCC-57a8mx-9jtJow-7nJKom-2btos5-4X3LvS-ogvw5A-7k7Xi-7yP3Ra-7LcZ2N-cJPrKA-9ojjtf-dTfnU7-7L914B-29AEo6-7LcZeN-7L916T-5NPJ5U-kn8iM4-7LcYUQ-7L91eF-7L91dk-7L919T-7L91tB-7LcZ6h-7LcYPL-bDjxS9-rLWLQP-dXZ8TV-dY5Phm-95CDU-6bpsCx-8rzeQD-4Tr4Z2-8mSgQB-6y7TzX-4t2v7y-3YKLS6-mnqdrT-fN8X2N-5HsfN8-4RuHke-76nGe2-8ETEcu-2U6Zyi-5y95xY-4C2C7p">rosefirerising</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and US Attorney General Loretta Lynch are expected to make a momentous announcement on Friday on <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/07/29/education-department-confirms-pell-grant-pilot-program-prisoners">the experimental reopening of Pell grant eligibility</a> for some people in custody in federal correctional facilities. </p>
<p><a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fpg/index.html">Federal Pell grants</a> provide money for college that, unlike loans, does not need to be repaid. Pell eligibility for prisoners was closed down in 1994, when then-President Bill Clinton <a href="https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/issues/12pln94.pdf">signed</a> what was arguably the toughest crime bill in the history of the United States. Soon thereafter, most college-in-prison programs closed their doors as well. </p>
<p>The few that remained in operation during the intervening 21 years were able to do so only through their continuous efforts to raise funds from generous private donors and a handful of philanthropic foundations.</p>
<p>After I left Harvard in 2007, where I had been a faculty member and dean of the Graduate School of Education, I became deeply involved in the prison program at Bard College, New York. </p>
<p>Known as the <a href="http://bpi.bard.edu/">Bard Prison Initiative (BPI)</a>, this program is arguably the largest and most comprehensive college-in-prison program in the US. If offers associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in six New York State prisons, sponsors a robust reentry program and anchors a consortium of liberal arts colleges across nine states that also operate prison program. </p>
<p>I know from personal experience what repeated independent evaluations have also shown: men and women who go to college in prison do not return to prison after their release.</p>
<h2>College degree reduces recidivism</h2>
<p>Studies show that <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/reentry/recidivism.cfm">between</a> 50% and 70% of all released prisoners return to prison within three years. </p>
<p>However, this rate drops drastically among alumni of college-in-prison programs. Among Bard alumni who have earned a degree while being in the prison, the return rate is only 2%. Similar results have been seen in another New York college-in-prison program – <a href="http://www.hudsonlink.org/">Hudson Link</a> boasts equally low numbers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90362/original/image-20150730-25745-1tu19sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90362/original/image-20150730-25745-1tu19sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90362/original/image-20150730-25745-1tu19sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90362/original/image-20150730-25745-1tu19sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90362/original/image-20150730-25745-1tu19sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90362/original/image-20150730-25745-1tu19sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90362/original/image-20150730-25745-1tu19sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">College programs for prisoners bring many benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/16210667@N02/14411888347/in/photolist-nXwGiz-btKPKL-2wJNAj-a91URN-enjZzB-9EoQ3W-26qma-k1dDpY-4WJkJ5-enUH5Y-AAc2o-tN5hs-5khZDs-b4T1Xk-5XyyXU-kcV61S-dqnvPj-fGFeEW-pjaTqt-APJRH-abx4ss-5jpqk1-aJ1vE-cyBUt-bZXwhG-rEvDv-6ZvQHj-g219Hv-enUFEE-tcZqv-nnMzo-tcZqk-9SVCJb-3euu7d-5tSjXG-ziwEn-siAFox-n7kjxc-8Pcp-6sgNzq-5XyyYC-9gdiPM-9ggqyS-5aQdED-rcHj6N-3K8ebE-3K8dQQ-657d2G-8HpagQ-enUEy3">Craig Sunter - Thanx 3 Million ;-))</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These same results have been seen in formal studies as well. A 2013 study conducted by researchers at the RAND Corporation <a href="http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR200/RR266/RAND_RR266.pdf">found</a> that among prisoners who had been involved in any kind of “correctional education” (basic literacy, GED or college), the return rate was 12.9% lower than the return rate for prisoners not involved in education.</p>
<p>One significant result is that by cutting recidivism, college programs can cut prison costs. <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/corrections/Pew_Report_State_of_Recidivism_350337_7.pdf"> Studies</a> indicate that even a 10% decrease could save all the 50 states combined US$635 million in only one year. </p>
<p>States vary in their recidivism rates and their prison costs. Therefore, the amount they could save by cutting recidivism differs. However, even if the 10 states with the greatest potential cost cut their recidivism rate by 10%, the <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/corrections/Pew_Report_State_of_Recidivism_350337_7.pdf">savings</a> could be $470 million in one year. </p>
<h2>Providing educational opportunity makes sense</h2>
<p>Investing in college access for prisoners is not only cost-effective, but has other benefits as well. </p>
<p>Reports reviewed by a <a href="http://www.nationalacademies.org/nrc/">National Research Council</a> committee show it can <a href="https://www.nap.edu/download.php?record_id=18613">reduce</a> the boredom and monotony that can trigger violence in prisons. More generally, it can reduce the “<a href="http://cad.sagepub.com/content/51/3/425.full.pdf">criminogenic effects</a>” of incarceration, or the effect of the prison environment. </p>
<p>Enabling people to go to college while in prison also has positive effects on the children of those prisoners, <a href="http://www.osborne.org/nyinitiative">encouraging</a> them to follow their parents to college rather than to prison.</p>
<p>Last but not least, opening the doors of college to people living behind bars aligns our criminal justice policies and practices with the moral commitments of a democratic society. And it makes us fulfill our obligation to the universal right of equality of educational opportunity. </p>
<h2>Why prisoners should have college access</h2>
<p>The earlier argument against providing access to prisoners centered on questions of fairness – whether it was fair for an incarcerated individual to go to college at public expense when so many people on the outside could not afford to go or struggled to pay the costs. </p>
<p>Pell access was denied to prisoners as part of the “let’s get tough on crime” sentiment that fueled the war on drugs, led to harsh sentencing policies, and all else that fed mass incarceration. </p>
<p>That argument is now losing steam. Today, people on both the right and the left are calling for reform. The Obama administration is leading the way, and “college for all” has become a realistic possibility. </p>
<p>In fact, President Obama has introduced a bill called <a href="http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Advocacy/Pages/acpa2015.aspx">“America’s College Promise”</a> that would make two years of college free for all who are eligible to attend. Private groups such as <a href="http://completecollege.org/">Complete College America</a> are adding to the chorus. The US is <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/toward-new-focus-outcomes">moving</a> toward making at least the first years of college as universally accessible as high school. </p>
<p>Friday’s announcement will greatly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/opinion/sunday/how-to-lock-up-fewer-people.html?_r=0">advance</a> this cause. No doubt, some will criticize the action. But they need to be reminded that virtually all people in prison will come <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181413.pdf">home</a> someday. And they will become our neighbors. </p>
<p>It makes sense to ensure that these people are able to return to society, be able to work and become responsible citizens. Going to college can help that happen. </p>
<p>Pell eligibility for prisoners is in our own best interest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellen Condliffe Lagemann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>President Obama wants to reopen access to Pell grants to prisoners. Studies show when men and women enroll in college programs, they are less likely to return to prison.Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Distinguished Fellow, Bard Prison Initiative and Levy Institute Research Professor, Bard CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/360942015-01-13T10:28:01Z2015-01-13T10:28:01ZFree access to community college benefits students but not the nation<p>Last week, President Barack Obama announced a proposal to guarantee that students could attend a community college for free for their first two years. The announcement was one in a series of previews of domestic policy proposals he is planning to include in his State of the Union speech later this month. </p>
<p>The important question to ask is, will the president’s proposal help achieve his goal of returning the nation to global prominence in post-secondary education?</p>
<h2>The difference between Obama and Clinton proposals</h2>
<p>Guaranteeing two years of free community college is not a new idea. </p>
<p>Former President <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=53358">Bill Clinton </a>proposed the same thing approximately two decades ago. What is different is how the guarantee works. Under Clinton, students’ tuition and fees would have been paid for by a series of tax credits and deductions. </p>
<p>Rather than utilizing the tax code, President Obama’s plan, which he calls “America’s College Promise,” would provide a grant to cover the tuition of an in-state community college, which currently averages $3,800 per year across the nation.</p>
<p>The president should be congratulated for attempting to tackle the problems of college affordability and access. Both of these have grabbed the attention of the media, parents and students in recent years. The president has talked about the issues before – this is one of the few bold, concrete ideas of how to address them. </p>
<p>America’s College Promise at face value looks like an important initiative. At the same, there are major problems with what the president has proposed.</p>
<h2>Big ambitions, few details</h2>
<p>It is difficult to understand exactly how the program will work, because the White House has yet to release many details. </p>
<p>One of the things we do know is that the program is potentially very expensive. While the White House estimates the cost at $60 billion over ten years, an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/upshot/the-roots-of-obamas-ambitious-college-plan.html">estimate</a> by David Leonhardt of The New York Times puts the annual cost at $15 billion.</p>
<p>Whatever the amount, the president will have a hard time selling a fiscally conservative Congress on the need for new spending on the government’s student aid programs. And if this is not going to be a new stream of funding, it leads one to question where the money will come from. </p>
<p>Will it come from existing funding for Pell Grants, the primary federal grant program for low- and moderate-income students? Or from the Department of Education’s Federal Direct Loan Program? These are important questions to ask to determine whether America’s College Promise is a wiser use of the money than other options. </p>
<p>The president’s proposal also requires states to kick in 25 percent of the cost for each student. It is unclear whether the states – most of which cut spending on higher education during the recession – will take on this commitment.</p>
<p>Another problem with the proposal is that it is open to anyone, no matter what the financial circumstances are of the student or her family. </p>
<h2>Is a universal benefit the way to go?</h2>
<p>I understand the appeal of offering a universal benefit like this – it helps build political support for the program. There are also benefits to publicizing the idea of offering the first two years of community college for free to all students. This can help lessen the “sticker shock” that affects many low-income students who want to go to college, but who think that it is too expensive and do not have good information about financial aid.</p>
<p>However, offering this benefit to all students may be a largely inefficient use of the money if the president’s ultimate goal is to increase college access and degree attainment.</p>
<p>Providing public subsidy to some students who would enroll in a community college even without the government assistance is unlikely to have much impact on their college-going behavior. The money would be more effectively spent targeting students who truly have financial need, and whose behavior can be influenced through the subsidy.</p>
<p>The country may, in fact, be better off if the $3,800 grant could be used for students attending 4-year universities, as well as community colleges. </p>
<p>There is definitive <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/education-pays-2013-full-report.pdf">research</a> showing that students who earn bachelor’s degrees receive much larger economic returns, on average, than do those earning associates degrees. And while some community colleges do a good job of preparing students for transfer to 4-year institutions, the <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/re/articles/?id=1317">research</a> also shows that most students who start their post-secondary career at a community college will never earn a bachelor’s degree. </p>
<p>In other words, the country may benefit more if students could use these subsidies at four-year universities, as well as community colleges.</p>
<p>While the president’s intentions are good, there are still many unknown pieces of his proposal that still need to be fleshed out. Until they are determined and the concerns raised here are addressed, President Obama’s good intentions may be foiled by a poorly-designed program.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36094/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller has in the past received funding for research from government and foundation sponsors.</span></em></p>Last week, President Barack Obama announced a proposal to guarantee that students could attend a community college for free for their first two years. The announcement was one in a series of previews of…Donald E. Heller, Dean, College of Education, , Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.